Showing posts with label comfort reads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comfort reads. Show all posts

Saturday, August 26, 2017

A Little Romance

Life has been busy lately. My summer life is transforming into my fall life. Writing full-time is making way for working full-time and listening for the call of my characters will make way for learning the needs of my students. My summer story is nearly written and with the opening of the school year, a new chapter unfolds. 

This summer, my journey has been marked with morning walks, morning talks, and so many stories. My heart is swayed by romance and as I roam around my school instead of my neighborhood and fall in love with adorable five-year-olds instead of my own characters, I'll continue searching for a little romance.

Perhaps you too are trying to reconcile a summer life with a regular life and you could use an extra smile and a giggle. If so, maybe you could benefit from a little escape nestled between the pages.

Related imageRoss Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, Winston Graham. I first met Ross Poldark in the PBS Masterpiece series Poldark. Because Aidan Turner, my friends. Since I discovered that it's based on a series of novels, I've been dying to get my hands on them. And guess what? They're fantastic. Ross's courage and inborn romance will win anyone's heart. 

Image result for i am the messenger book coverI Am The Messenger, Markus Zusak. Zusak's style is both masterful and delightful. In this tale, he weaves the story of good-for-nothing Ed Kennedy who is given another chance to connect with humanity. Or Ed will be punished by the unknown master calling the shots. 

Image result for vanessa and her sister book coverVanessa and Her Sister, Priya Parmar. Parmar weaves a tale around the life and times of Vanessa Bell, artist and sister of Virginia Woolf. Historical Fiction will always be one of my favorite genres. It always sends me scurrying to the internet and library for more information on the events and historical figures portrayed in the novels. Vanessa and Her Sister is captivating, inspiring, beautiful, and heartbreaking.

Image result for rembrandt robin king book coverRemembrandt, Robin King. Alex Stewart has a eidetic memory. She recalls everything she has ever seen with prefect clarity. When she's recruited by a secret organization, she finds her skills put to the test as a secret operative and her heart pulled in another direction by a handsome stranger. King's first novel in the series is both intriguing and youthful.

Related imageThis Lullaby, Sarah Dessen. Dessen's novels paint a world of heartbreak and joy, youth and folly. And regardless of the fact that they are Young Adult novels, they always reveal a ribbon of truth running through the middle. This Lullaby follows the carefully plotted out last summer of Remy. She's leaving her eccentric author mother and newly-in-love brother for Stanford in a few short months. The only thing that's missing from her life is one short-term summer romance. She doesn't expect Dexter, a messy, quirky musician to claim more of her life or more of her heart than she's willing to give.

Image result for a little in love book coverA Little Bit in Love, Susan E. Fletcher. Novels that give new life and breadth to a character we thought we knew always intrigue me. Eponine, from Les Miserables, is reimagined in this gorgeously woven tale of grit, romance, and heartbreak. It follows the path that led Eponine to Paris and Marius and love. We may know how her story ends, but now we can know her heart.

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As for me, I'm only a few scenes away from finishing my third novel, beginning the task of editing and polishing and pruning, collaborating to create cover art, and starting a new novel. Oh yes, and educating another group of adorable five-year-olds! Stay tuned for news on both! Thanks for reading!

Note: The above novels, with the exception of Remembrant, may feature language, strong themes, sex, or other elements you may not appreciate. Please read responsibly.


Thursday, March 10, 2016

Food for Thought: Comfort Books

DISCLAIMER: The following is the dramatization (emphasis on the DRAMA) of a kindergarten teacher's bad day. Any similarity to real events and/or obnoxious children is thoroughly coincidental. Almost probably.
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The urge to cram my fingers in my ears is overwhelming. The students are gone, but their nonsense rings in my head.

Bicker, bicker.

It wasn't me!

Pencils drum on the table. Thump, thump, thump, thump!

My pencil is broken! (That ggggrrkkk is my teeth grinding. I despise sharpening pencils.)

Cough, cough. Aaaaachoooo! A hand claps over a face. Wide eyes silently scream, I need a tissue!

Another day in Kindergartenland. Another squirt of hand-sanitizer pools in my palm. Die, germs, die! I glance at the clock, gauging how long until I can escape the four walls that are squeezing the air from my lungs and the rational thoughts from my brain.

Ten minutes!

Ten minutes until pajama pants, whatever chocolate is left in the cupboard (probably those fat chocolate chips that will never make it into cookies), a fluffy blanket tucked up to my chin, and That Book.

I wander about the classroom, straightening table caddies and retrieving the odd crayon, my mind already on other issues. Why did I leave off just as Anne met Royal Gardiner? No matter how tall, handsome, and gentlemanly Roy might be, he's no Gilbert Blythe. You're not fooling anyone Miss Shirley. I snag a gum wrapper off the floor and scowl. How could one woman misunderstand her own feelings so badly? (And where in the world did they get gum?)
Gilbert, good. Gum, bad.
I throw my jacket over my arm. My keys jangle in the lock. My mind is already eighty-five percent lost to Anne of the Island. (The other fifteen percent is reserved for wondering where the gum is now.)

And yes, I always read the ending twice. (Incidentally, I almost never look at the underside of my tables. It's just not worth the mental anguish.)
When the world is so loud and obnoxious that it squeezes your mind with its insistence, running away is the only option. Disappearing into a favorite book on a weeknight is like sampling an exotic chocolate. Utterly delicious.

Comfort reads. This is mine. Here are a few of yours:
I'd love to hear about your favorite stories and how they help to calm, energize, inspire you. Leave me a comment!

Also, all the book titles are linked to the best Amazon deals I could find. So, stock up on the chocolate and get cozy! Comfort reads are just a click away. (Or in my case, a bookshelf away.)